Posted by Steve Oberheu on November 26, 2000 at 10:28:15:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Kraft- Encounters2 ! posted by Steve Marcus on November 24, 2000 at 23:07:21:
Yes, Roger did play the note exactly as he teaches it. By recording the pedal CCC and slowing it down to half speed, he heard how it is supposed to sound. But this is NOT what you hear on the record. What you hear is the aforementioned slapping of the mouthpiece that Mark was talking about, recorded live at normal speed like Roger would have performed it.
Now, here's why this technique works...it's much like slamming the keys down on a flute. Even though your mouth is nowhere near the mouthpiece, you hear a pitch caused by movement of the air column. And when all the keys are down, the pitch you hear is a c (or b, or whatever fingering combination you're using), because that's the length of the flute.
With the tuba, the movement of the air is caused by slapping the mouthpiece with the tongue and the pitch by the length of the tubing. After listening to the pedal CC slowed down, Roger heard the number of beats (or cycles) so he knew at what rate to move his tongue. Thus, you have an accurate, absolutely correct method of reproducing the sound that William Kraft wanted.
And for the edits...actually, if you listen closely to Roger's recording on "Bobissimo" through headphones, you will hear several edits during the piece. This was done in an attempt to do the most technically precise recording he could do...TO SERVE THE MUSIC. The edit around the pedal CCC was not the only one.